Northwest students compete in

June 7, 2006 - Three Northwest area schools traveled to Iowa in
late May to compete in the World Finals of Odyssey of the Mind, a
problem-solving competition.

Painted Sky Elementary School in the Amphitheater School
District sent two qualifying teams to the World Finals on May 24.
Sunrise Drive in the Catalina Foothills School District and Cross
Middle School in the Amphitheater School District sent one team a
piece.

Qualification for the World Finals in Aimes, Iowa, was decided
at the state level where a school had to finish in first or second
place in its event.

Sunrise Drive and Painted Sky each had a team compete in
Division 1 of The Jungle Bloke, an event where students wrote and
performed a short play based of their research of rain forests.
Sunrise Drive and Painted Sky finished in 15th and 21st place,
respectively.

Painted Sky finished in 28th place in Division 1 of the Great
Parade, an event where the students were required to create a
hand-propelled vehicle that could fit into a 4-by-6 foot box,
travel around three parade markers, and then return to the box in
reverse. To accomplish this task, the students welded two bicycles
together that would be steered by one student and pedaled by
another.

Cross Middle School finished 16th in Division 1 of Ancient
Egypt, an event where students are required to create a short play
featuring topics such as Egyptian pharaohs, pyramid-construction,
archeology, hieroglyphics, and mummification. The plays also are
required to have a plot twist at the end.

In Odyssey of the Mind competitions, teams are told the basic
parameters of a problem, but there is always a mystery component
not revealed until the competition that the teams must then solve
without preparation.

Although most teams competing in the World Finals came from
American schools, teams from Poland, Mexico, Singapore, South
Korea, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Cameroon, Japan, the
Netherlands, Uzbekistan and Cuba also competed.